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German coach Fritz Zdunek, who trains WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko and British cruiserweight Ola Afolabi, has advised Marco Huck to forget his pursuit of a fight with Vitali, who doesn't have a set opponent for his upcoming fall return on either September 1 or September 8 in Germany.
WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck (34-2-1, 25KOs) is once again laughing out loud, at the expense of the cruiserweight champion of Europe (EBU), Alexander Alekseev (23-2-1, 20KOs). Their verbal dispute began last week, when Huck had a few giggles at Alekseev's twelve round draw with 41-year-old ex-champion Firat Arslan.
Former boxer turned trainer, Scott Welch, is planning to bring heavyweight contender Alexander Dimitrenko (32-2, 21KOs) back strong. In his last fight, Dimitrenko was dominated and stopped in eleven rounds by rising star Kubrat Pulev. Welch, who got hired by Dimitrenko a few weeks prior to that fight, says the two of them didn't have enough time to properly train together and build a good foundation.
According to sources, WBA heavyweight champion Alexander Povetkin (24-0, 16KOs) will not defend his title on the huge July show at Upton Park in West Ham, London.
According to Chris Meyer, the General Manager of Sauerland Event, the anticipated battle between WBO super middleweight champion Robert Stieglitz (42-2, 23KOs), and mandatory challenger Arthur Abraham (34-3, 27KOs), is possibly going to take place on August 25th - in Berlin, Hamburg or Magdeburg. The venue will be decided in the coming days. It would be the third fight for Abraham in 2012, and the second for Stieglitz who won a twelve round decision over Nader Hamdan last Saturday night in Erfurt.
WBO middleweight champion Dmitry Pirog (19-0, 15KOs) is really taking Nobuhiro Ishida (24-7-2, 9KOs), although the former WBA interim-154-pound champion is a serious underdog in the fight. Later today at the Sport Complex Krylatskoe in Moscow, Pirog will defend his title against Ishida.
Rudy Hernandez, the trainer of Nobuhiro Ishida (24-7-2, 9KOs), believes WBO middleweight champion Dmitry Pirog (19-0, 15KOs) is the best boxer at 160-pounds. Later today at the Sport Complex Krylatskoe in Moscow, Pirog will defend his title against Ishida, a former WBA interim-junior middleweight champion.
Light heavyweight contender Denis Grachev (12-0-1, 8KOs) hopes to raise his international profile after last week's big upset knockout of previously undefeated rising star Ismayl Sillakh (17-1, 14KOs). Grachev was losing on the offical cards, but turned things around with his power punches to stop Sillakh in the eight round.
Undefeated light heavyweight contender Ismayl Sillakh (17-0, 14KOs) believes Chad Dawson will defeat Bernard Hopkins in Saturday's rematch in Atlantic City. Sillakh returns on Friday night against fellow unbeaten Russian boxer Denis Grachev (11-0-1, 7KOs). Sillakh and Grachev actually sparred with each other in the past.
Ulli Wegner, trainer of WBO world cruiserweight champion Marco Huck (34-2, 25 KOs), has a lot of respect for Ola Afolabi (19-2-3, 9 KOs). In December 2009, Huck won a close decision over Afolabi and now the two men will get it on for a second time on May 5th in Erfurt, Germany.